Smart trader 0x35b2 profits $1.04M on PaperTrade, earned 252M $PAPER tokens from day-one trading

According to Finra data, U.S. margin debt balances surged by $260 billion in September to reach $1.48 trillion, marking the second-highest level in history. Since the start of 2026, margin debt has soared by $255 billion, a 21% increase. As a percentage of GDP, this metric has risen to a record 4.5%, surpassing the 3.6% peak hit in 2021. Meanwhile, the ratio of margin debt to M2 money supply has climbed to 6.3%, the third-highest level in history. For comparison, this ratio peaked at 6.4% during the 2000 dot-com bubble. The data indicates that leveraged investment in the U.S. investment market has reached an unprecedented level.

Google is updating its financial services and products policy. Effective October 21, advertisers targeting the UAE who run ads promoting crypto trading platforms, crypto wallets, contracts for difference (CFDs) and foreign exchange services must hold a license from one of the CMA, DFSA, FSRA or VARA, complete Google certification, and comply with other local legal requirements. For ads positioning crypto trading platforms and wallets as complex speculative financial products, only licenses from CMA, DFSA or FSRA are accepted. The policy applies to all relevant ad accounts globally. Going forward, Google will first issue warnings for violations, and may suspend accounts only after a minimum of seven days.

On Tuesday, South Korean AI services firm Elice Group saw its stock price plunge 28% on its debut trading day. A sharp cooling of investment sentiment in the sector has since derailed IPO plans for multiple companies. Elice raised 201.1 billion won (approximately $150 million) in its initial public offering (IPO). The company provides AI cloud services, AI-powered education and business software, and planned to allocate most of the IPO proceeds to launch portable modular data centers and related infrastructure. Against the backdrop of high inflation keeping borrowing costs elevated, investors are increasingly questioning whether massive capital invested in the AI sector can deliver short-term returns. Kim Hak-joon, an analyst at Seoul-based Kiwoom Securities, stated: "The market is concerned that such companies may fail to secure follow-on funding from investors." Elice’s latest stock price is 65,300 won, down from its IPO price of 90,500 won. According to relevant filing documents, the company received institutional subscription orders 388.84 times the number of shares available for subscription during its IPO.

Per market data, Unitree Technology gained over 10%, now quoted at 549 yuan, with a turnover of more than 2.6 billion yuan.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa), since October 10, Ma Ji has recorded $1.56 billion in cumulative trading volume on Papertrade, with realized losses of $833,000, ranking 10th on the platform’s loss leaderboard. He received an airdrop of 437,000 PAPER tokens (405,000 of which were eligible for deduction), leaving his account with a net loss of $424,000 after offsetting. It is reported that Ma Ji primarily opened long positions on ETH, with leverage ranging from 50x to 1000x, most of which were set at 100x. He also posted multiple tweets praising Papertrade’s operating model.

Citi Research has released a report stating that it is no longer sufficient to view Aave solely as a crypto-native lending protocol. As tokenized assets, stablecoins, and institutional participation gradually integrate into mainstream finance, Aave is poised to be positioned as a decentralized collateral liquidity protocol. Projects including Aave V4, Horizon, and GHO all point to the intersection of collateral, liquidity, and financing. The report notes that if tokenization determines which assets enter on-chain ecosystems, and stablecoins become the default settlement base, Aave could help shape how these assets are financed, leveraged, used as collateral, and integrated into capital markets. Citi argues that as tokenization expands beyond stablecoins to money market funds, private credit, Treasuries, and even future equities, collateral circulation may eventually emerge as one of the most important use cases of tokenization. Aave provides a practical case study showing how tokenized assets can be used for collateralized borrowing, financing, and re-collateralization within the digital financial system, while also offering insights into the future of tokenized capital markets, securities financing, and even prime brokerage.